Invertebrate Dude: A Multitude of New Isopods!

Saturday, April 6, 2024

A Multitude of New Isopods!

I've been acquiring new isopod species at a fairly rapid rate, and lots of them came from several different, small transactions. So I figured I'd cover a flurry of them in one post. 😃

First off, I did a trade with Rus of Aquarimax a few months ago, who's packing was excellent, and he sent me generous groups of a couple Armadillidium spp., both of which have already produced offspring for me! 😄

First off, I got a group of Armadillidium nasatum "Livonia, MI - White-Out". This line was originally isolated by Kyle from Roachcrossing, then sent to Alan Jeon (before Kyle had fully isolated/refined them though), who then sent some to Rus. It would appear Rus has more or less finished refining the line, as I don't see any wild type looking offspring popping up in my colony, but time will tell.

I've got them set up in a moderately ventilated gallon shoebox with an inch of coco fiber substrate, topped with leaf litter and bark. I'm keeping them humid, at around 75F° and offering dog food as a supplemental diet.

Here are some pictures of them:

While this may be a rather common mutation in various isopod species at this point, I still get a kick out of seeing it expressed in all these different species. So far these are breeding well for me, and I expect to have a large, thriving culture very soon!

I also got another common species, Armadillidium vulgare "Punta Cana, Dominican Republic". There's been some doubt on the purity of this line in some breeders' collections due to stock contamination over time, however Rus's seem like they should be pure to me, this was what he had to say regarding where they were sourced from:

"Punta Cana came from a local pet store a long time ago as well, when they were still widely thought to be A.sordidum. I also added some Punta Cana stock from Tanner Steinbrook (Under a Mossy Log), who had been selectively breeding them for higher contrast for years. I highly doubt he would have compromised them".

So, I'm pretty sure this line should be uncontaminated, they certainly look very pretty, and get noticeably larger than the vulgare I find here in ID!

I've got them set up in a well ventilated gallon shoebox with an inch of coco fiber substrate, topped with leaf litter and bark. I'm keeping them semi-humid, at around 75F° and offering dog food as a supplemental diet.

Here are some pictures of them:

This strain has very variable coloration, which is a huge plus for me, and their large size also makes them a very nice vulgare strain to work with IMO!

Huge thanks to Rus for the amazing trade, please check out his YouTube channel and subscribe if you haven't already!

Local keeper and friend of mine Sarah gifted me the bulk of her colony of Armadillidium vulgare "Orange Vigor" (who she got directly from Roachcrossing, the original isolator of this morph), as it had become infested with Alphitobius diaperinus. I've been slowly culling and eradicating the Alphitobius from the culture, so far the isopods are doing very well though, breeding and growing well.

I've got them housed in a well ventilated shoebox with a couple inches of the substrate they came with (looks like a mix of potting soil, coconut fiber, and leaf litter), topped with bark and more leaf litter. Keeping them at around 75-80F°, and offering dog food sparingly as supplemental food (just not too much, as that would fuel the Alphitobius population more than the isopods).

Here are some pictures of the beauties:

In addition to the amazing and slightly variable coloration, this line of vulgare is also quite large, always a plus for me. 😊 Many thanks to Sarah for sharing these with me!

I traded my buddy Joshua Campos (Bring on the Bugs) for some Armadillo officinalis, specifically the OG no locality line. This species of isopod is rather large for a terrestrial conglobating species, and also the only isopod in culture to make a raspy hissing noise when disturbed! This is apparently done by stridulation, when the isopods are curled up.

I've got mine housed in a well ventilated shoebox with an inch of sand/coco coir mix, topped with bark and leaf litter. I keep a third of the setup humid, the rest dry, and have them at around 75-80F°. I'm offering dog food as the supplemental diet.

Here are some pics of the chonkers:

I really love the dark grey coloration on these guys, coupled with the paler segment borders. I just found babies from mine a week or so a go, so seems like they are doing rather well for me!

I won an auction on Facebook from Kina Mercado for a group of Oniscus asellus "BC Maple", an orange line I kept before but got rid of before breeding, back in 2018. I'm happy to have them again, and barring any disasters, I'm not planning on getting rid of them anytime soon. 😉

I've got them housed in a moderately ventilated shoebox with an inch or so of coconut fiber substrate, topped with bark and leaf litter. I'm keeping them at around 73F°, and quite moist. Feeding dog food as the supplemental diet.

Here are some pictures of them:

Quite an attractive line, hopefully they'll breed soon!

Back in December, the Invertebrate Bootleggers group on FB had a lovely little Secret Santa swap, which I took part of, and I am very excited with the two species I received from Michelle Muldowney-Stevens. 😃

First off, we have Trachelipus caucasius, a decent sized and attractively patterned representative of this genus. Care is similar to other Trachelipus spp., and it is a species I've been wanting to keep for a while (though like many other isopods I'd like to keep, I'll seldom go out of my way to seek out).

I've got them housed in a moderately ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coconut fiber substrate, topped with bark and leaf litter. Keeping them at around 75F°, consistently humid, and feeding dog food as the supplemental diet.

Here are some photos of them:

I'm happy to say they've already started breeding, and rather prolifically at that!

I also got a group of Porcellio duboscqui troglophila, a Spanish Porcellio that's also been on my wishlist for a while. Variable in coloration, with nice yellow mottling on most individuals, these are a nice addition to my growing assortment of Porcellio spp..

I am struggling with keeping them alive though. At first I had them set up similar to my other Spanish Porcellio, very well ventilated, a quarter to a third of the enclosure kept humid, the rest dry, and rather warm as well. However they've become hyperactive, seemingly running around their enclosure nonstop, and I have lost more than half of them now. Clearly something is wrong, and per the advice of one of my European friends who keeps this species, I now have reduced the ventilation, increased humidity and lowered the temperatures. We'll see if this helps, I've not lost any since doing so, but they still don't look too healthy...

Anyways, here are some pictures of some of the remaining individuals: